Book Review: 'By All Means Necessary,' by Elizabeth C. Economy and Michael Levi

In Mongolia, fear of becoming dependent on Beijing led leaders to build national railroads using a different gauge from China's.

By

Howard W. French

Feb. 20, 2014 7:24 p.m. ET

In January 2008, an Omaha-based commodity trader placed a $100-a-barrel bid for Oklahoma crude. "This is the big one," he declared of his transaction, which pushed the price of oil to an all-time high. Commodity analysts had a seemingly satisfying explanation for the historic surge: With its double-digit economic growth rates, China was pushing the world toward a state of resource scarcity and ever higher prices.

Elizabeth Economy and Michael Levi use this anecdote as the opening scene in "By All Means...